The original Nike Vaporfly is the running shoe that changed everything, setting the template for the modern-day racer thanks to its high stack of springy foam and carbon plate.
I’ve not actually tried the latest version of the Vaporfly — the Vaporfly 4 — but I have racked up over 100 miles of fast running in the Nike Vaporfly 3, including a marathon, and it's now on sale.
You can get the Nike Vaporfly 3 for just $148 in the Dick’s Sporting Goods sale, saving over $100 on a fantastic, lightweight racing shoe that can compete with the latest carbon super-shoes.
There are a few newer carbon plate running shoes that I rate higher than the Nike Vaporfly 3, with the Puma Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 being my go-to racer right now. However, the difference in performance isn’t huge, and the price difference is substantial.
The Puma will set you back $300, which is more than double the price of the Vaporfly 3 in this deal, and having run a 2:33 marathon in the Nike, I can testify to how good it is on race day.
It has a very lightweight design, but the big stack of springy ZoomX foam in the midsole means it’s comfortable for long races like marathons, while also being lightning fast for shorter events like 5Ks.
The main downside to the Vaporfly 3 that I noticed in testing is its durability — the outsole on my pair is showing a lot of wear after 100 miles. The performance is still there, though, and if you save the Vaporfly 3 for race day and some key training sessions, you’ll get a lot of fast miles out of it.
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